Gayle Brennan Spencer – sending random thoughts to and from South Austin
Above: Detail of a side altar of Templo Santo Domingo de Guzman
Spare words are being offered. We have visited Santo Domingo so many times through the years, yet we are still always gob-smacked by her beauty.
Many others are as well, making the dawn-of-the-17th-century Baroque church a magnet for destination weddings. A four-year age-defying face-lift undertaken in the 1990s successfully masks her age.
Continue reading “Postcard from Oaxaca, Mexico: Santo Domingo wears her age well”
Music is everywhere in Oaxaca. Street performers park on the sidewalk, and wandering soloists and groups play for tips in the Zocalo. (If only they were forbidden from playing “My Way” ever again, particularly on the marimba….)
Dancers and brass bands booked for wedding celebrations are the norm every Saturday in front of Templo Santo Domingo and parading through the streets. Traditional jarocho bands perform regularly at Venadito Espacio Cultural.
An unusal addition to the sounds surrounding us this year was a musician who would show up most days at our extended breakfast time to practice classical pieces on the piano adjacent to our living area.
That, and the opportunity to hear a concert featuring Paul Cohen’s jazz group with an appearance by Lila Downs.
Leaving you with some snippets from celebrations in front of Santo Domingo.
Anyone longing for a bit of live music can simply stroll to the Zocalo in the heart of Oaxaca almost any time of day. Student orchestras and the full state band perform regularly, often challenged by street musicians trolling for tips nearby. Guitars, flutes, marimbas, horns, accordions. Wedding parties parade around town on weekends followed by bands and dancers.
The Zocalo attracts couples who have danced together for years, hardly needing a nudge from partners to stay completely in step executing the most complicated maneuvers of traditional danzones. But the youthful exuberance encountered on a Friday night in Parque El Llano was a refreshing hoot. The high heels and tennis shoes in the photo above managed to partner up for dancing at the end-of-the-week party.
But who brought on the clowns? Clowns increasingly amplified with wireless microphones. People of all ages crowd around, laughing and applauding as on cue.
This enduring affection for street performers clowning around is found throughout Europe. It never translates into anything close to amusing for me.
I grew up laughing over Bozo the Clown and the Three Stooges. How did I get so jaded?
Clowns make me frown, but music makes me smile.
Postcards from Barton Springs 